Manual railroad hopper car door actuating mechanism

ABSTRACT

An actuating system for manually operating the doors of a railroad hopper car. An operating shaft having a handle is rigidly coupled to an actuating lever. A door opening lever, which is rotatably coupled to said actuating lever, is rotatably coupled to the door for a hopper chute. To operate the system, an operator rotates the handle of said operating shaft, rotating said actuating lever and said door opening lever, shifting said door from the closed to the open position.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/737,821, filed Nov. 17, 2006, which application is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for opening the doors of a railroad hopper car, and, in particular, to a novel apparatus for manually opening the hopper doors on a railroad car.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A common type of railroad freight car in use today is the freight car of the type wherein the load is discharged through hoppers in the underside of the body. Such cars are generally referred to as hopper cars and are used to haul coal, phosphate and other commodities.

After hopper cars are spotted over an unloading pit the doors of the hoppers are opened, allowing the material within the hopper to be emptied into the pit.

Hopper cars, which may be covered, are usually found with one of two hopper configurations: transverse, in which the doors closing the hoppers are oriented perpendicular to the center line of the car; or longitudinal, in which the doors closing the hoppers are oriented parallel to the center line of the car. An example of a hopper car with transverse doors is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,531, while an example of a hopper car with longitudinal doors is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,877.

Prior art references which teach operating mechanisms for opening and closing hopper doors include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,596,609; 4,741,274; 3,187,684; 3,611,947; 3,786,764; 3,815,514; 3,818,842; 3,949,681; 4,222,334; 4,366,757; 4,601,244; 5,823,118;and 5,249,531. There are several disadvantages to the hopper door operating mechanisms described in some of the aforementioned patents. One problem is that some of the prior art mechanisms are designed such that each actuating mechanism is connected to doors from two separate hoppers. Thus, if the mechanism fails, it effects the operation of two hoppers. Another disadvantage of some of the above described hopper door mechanisms is that the operating mechanisms limit the distance of the door motion, thus limiting the open area of the cars bottom. This arrangement slows the unloading process and causes additional costs and potential damage to the car due to increased periods in thaw sheds. A further disadvantage of some of the prior art hopper door mechanisms are that they are designed specifically for new railcar construction.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,158 is directed to a manual discharge door operating system for a hopper railcar. It includes a door actuation shaft coupled to the railcar extending across the width of the car. Rotation of the actuation shaft by the operator opens and closes the discharge door of the hopper railcar through linkage assemblies which are affixed to the center sill of the car. The linkage assemblies form an over-center latch to aid in maintaining the door in the closed position.

While the mechanism taught in the '158 patent works well, it must be mounted to the center sill of the railcar. In addition, it is designed to operate a door of a hopper chute having a certain fixed slope angle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a manual mechanism for actuating the discharge doors of a hopper car which can be used on cars with or without a center sill.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a manual actuating mechanism of simple design for hopper car doors which can be used in new car manufacturing as well as can be retrofitted to existing cars.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an actuating mechanism for a hopper car which can be adjusted to operate doors of hopper chutes of varying slope angles.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an actuating mechanism for hopper car doors in which each door assembly has a positive over-center locking feature to securely close the doors in addition to a second safety latch.

These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the descriptions and drawings which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, taken together, show a plan view of the mechanism of the present invention;

FIGS. 4 and 5, taken together, show a top view of the mechanism of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, the mechanism of the present invention is mounted beneath the center sill by a pair of brackets 10 which support a shaft 12. Shaft 12 extends across the width of the railroad car. On either end of shaft 12 is mounted a handle 14 having a pair of bosses 16 and a slotted section 18. Fitted within slot 18 is a link 20 which is coupled to handle 14 by a pin 22 at one end and is coupled to a door pan 24 which covers a hopper 26 by a pin 28. Pin 28 goes through a coupler 30 having a threaded end 31 which goes through a bracket 32 and is held in place by a nut 34. Bracket 32 is coupled to the door spreader 36 which is mounted along the edge of door pan 24. The other end of door pan 24 is attached to a bracket 38 which is pivoted by a pin 40.

To open the doors 24 of the hopper 26, a pry bar is placed between the bosses 16 of handle 14 and used to rotate shaft 12 counterclockwise. In the closed state, handle 14 forms an overcenter latch, as handle 14 is located 3 inches past the center line through shaft 12 and pin 22. As shaft 12 rotates, handle 14 is moved through the overcenter condition, thus unlatching the door. Continued rotation of shaft 12 by bosses 16 causes handle 14 to rotate to position 50 and then to position 60, where door pan is fully open. As shaft 12 continues across the car, the door can e opened rom either side. And for each hopper/door unit on the car, a separate mechanism is included. In addition, if the hopper door opens in the opposite direction, the mechanism can be reversed when installed on the car.

In the above description, and in the claims which follow, the use of such words as “clockwise”, “counterclockwise”, “distal”, “proximal”, “forward”, “rearward”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, and the like is in conjunction with the drawings for purposes of clarity. As will be understood by one skilled in the art, the mechanisms will operate on hopper doors which open in opposite directions, and thus will use opposite terminology.

While the invention has been shown and described in terms of preferred embodiment, it will be understood that this invention is not limited to this particular embodiment, and that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. 

1) A manual operating mechanism for actuating doors of a hopper car including a body having an underside, at least one discharge chute along the underside of the body, and at least one door coupled for rotation to the body to open and close each discharge chute, said mechanism comprising: a door opening lever for shifting said at least one door between a first chute closed position and a second chute open position; an actuating lever, rotatably coupled at one end to said door opening lever and at its other end rotatably coupled to said door; and an operating shaft, coupled for rotation to said car, rigidly affixed at a first end to said actuating lever and having a first handle rigidly affixed at a second end on a first lateral side of said car, whereby when said first handle is manually rotated by an operator, said operating shaft rotates said actuating lever to cause said door opening lever to shift said at least one door from said first chute closed position to said second chute open position. 2) The mechanism of claim 1, wherein said handle consists of a pair of bosses 3) The mechanism of claim 1, wherein said mechanism forms an overcenter latch. 4) The mechanism of claim 1, wherein said handle contains a first end having a first boss with a bore for rigidly affixing said operating shaft to said handle, and a second end having a second boss extending essentially parallel to said first boss. 5) The mechanism of claim 1, wherein said first and second bosses are positioned on said first handle such that a pry bar can be located between said first and second bosses to rotate said operating shaft. 